. >> reporter: apparently romney supporter and republican governor chris christie didn't get the memo. >> wednesday night is the restart of this campaign and i think you'll see the numbers start to move right back into the other direction. >> reporter: note to governor christie, no, no, no, no. sop for predebate chatter is to lower expectations for your guy by raising expectations for the other guy. like this. >> president obama is a very -- he's a very gifted speaker. the man's been on the national stage for many years. he's an experienced debater. >> reporter: because this is a bipartisanly accepted strategy like this. >> we expect it all along that governor romney will have a good night, he's prepared more than any candidate in history and he's shown himself to be a very, very good debater through the years. >> reporter: since you're supporting romney, the candidate who is running behind, you are supporting him, right? then you also need to lower the stakes for wednesday's first of these presidential debates, like this. >> frankly, i can't remember the last time there was one of th